Specified systems and compliance schedules

If you own a building that contains a specified system such as a cable car, you must ensure they are effectively operated for the life of the building and in keeping with the council-issued compliance schedule.

A determination is a binding decision made by MBIE providing a way of solving disputes or questions about the rules that apply to buildings, how buildings are used, building accessibility, and health and safety.

LBP Skills Maintenance reminder

Licensed building practitioners (LBPs) should look out for Codewords in the next few weeks. The March edition will feature the first LBP Skills Maintenance quiz. Reading certain Codewords articles and completing a related quiz are now compulsory activities for LBPs who have been notified they have timed into the new scheme.

Changes to the LBP Skills Maintenance requirements have been signalled for some time and were formally introduced on 2 November 2015. They aim to promote meaningful, time efficient and relevant learning.

The new requirements have three parts; Codewords and On-the-Job Learning are compulsory, and there are also elective activities. LBPs complete the activities within two years before they can apply for relicensing. Every LBP receives an annual relicensing letter, this informs them of their commencement in the new scheme.

Codewords is a newsletter we publish around six times a year. It has articles about technical and regulatory change relevant to LBPs and their particular licence class. Future editions will feature a compulsory quiz to encourage learning and reiterate key points.

On-the-Job Learning recognises that over a two-year cycle, LBPs have opportunities to pick up new skills and learnings in the workplace and note them in their ongoing record of learning.

Example: On-the-Job Learning – where are the opportunities?

The image above shows some relatively recent changes to Acceptable Solutions such as E2/AS1, B1/AS1 and NZS’s 3604, 4229 and 1170. Under the new model, relevant technical changes are highlighted in Codewords and applied on-site or in the design office as an On-the-Job Learning opportunity.

Other opportunities include:

peer review of another LBP’s design

research a new building product or method of construction

implement a learning from a product tutorial

complete a Record of Work (RoWs) or Certificate of Work (CoW) a learning outcome (in relation to a new product or building method)

designing or building an alternative solution

third-party observation of your work eg engineer, council inspection

evidence of applying a legal test eg section 67, 75, 112, 115 of the Building Act.

Elective activities of the scheme will remain largely the same, although the number of points that have to be earned are reduced. This is because many LBPs reported difficulties in sourcing sufficient, relevant, and credible material for their licence class. In essence, LBPs will only have to earn half the number of points that they currently do in the elective area.

Overview of new model

Breakdown of new model

Complete tasks online

LBPs can complete tasks online and use a ‘dashboard’ to track their progress. They can also complete RoWs and CoWs online and these can be retained to show On-the-Job Learning.

Please note you will be notified by mail when you time into the skills maintenance model. To be clear, if you completed a skills maintenance declaration after 2 November 2015 then you will be part of the new model.

Another reminder worth noting is that LBPs can now access online versions of the RoW and CoW forms via the LBP portal. Should you wish to complete these forms electronically just go to the portal. Thousands of LBPs have already used this new online tool.

About Us

This information is published by the Your home’s Chief Executive. It is a general guide only and, if used, does not relieve any person of the obligation to consider any matter to which the information relates according to the circumstances of the particular case. Expert advice may be required in specific circumstances. Where this information relates to assisting people:

with compliance with the Building Act, it is published under section 175 of the Building Act

with a Weathertight Services claim, it is published under section 12 of the Weathertight Homes Resolution Services Act 2006.